I assume you all remember my reaction to the YouTube fiasco… “Hated it”.
Well, Special Ed at Captain’s Quarters had an idea. Let the wingnets select the questions.
Just because it made me chuckle… John Cole, the former Bush stalwart, but now sane host of Balloon-Juice responds.
Pretty darned funny.
Now, out til FNP. Have fun, all.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. I’ve also been reading quite extensively lately on the Civil War and the absolutely abominable prosecution of that war is downright stunning and it is just short of a miracle that the territory of the United States didn’t end up being two nations instead of one. And the modern day Copperheads are just as defeatist as they were 140 plus years ago. To look at war and nations and peoples through the lens of history is interesting, especially when compared to those who don’t. Very different perspectives and understanding of the inevitable conflicts that plague us all. Join me now in strolling down memory lane to a war known as WWII.
On June 25, the following resolution was tabled in the House:
“That this House, while paying tribute to the heroism and endurance of the Armed Forces, in circumstances of exceptional difficulty, has no confidence in the central direction of the war.”
That would be June 25, 1942. The House would be the House of Commons in London, England. And the government in which no confidence was expressed was that of Winston Churchill…
…
I wonder whether, perhaps, in Gen. Petraeus President Bush has finally found his Gen. Montgomery. And whether Petraeus’s new strategy and success at beating al Qaeda in Iraq and growing success against the Mahdi Army — may be his El Alamein.
Wars are curious things. Certainly, as President Bush and many of his supporters have cruelly learned, victories cannot reliably be predicted. But as Sen. Harry Reid, the congressional Democrats (and a growing number of Republicans) may soon learn — neither can one reliably predict defeat.
Sorry for my absence, but I just found out yesterday that my customer is flying in tomorrow. It’s going to be a long week.
I just got home from work, and am going to bed.
Update: I guess I should mention for our new readers that my “customer” is Lockheed Martin, and we are working on a contract that is four, yes FOUR, years late (due in part to us, and Lockheed, but mostly to a vile little company called -redacted- that has really been the root of the problem… bastards). Every so often Lockheed decides its time to stir the pot (again) and I get to experience the joy of a ninety hour week.
Update 2: I decided that I should probably remove the company’s name. Sorry.
The 25th Annual Testicle Festival in Clinton Montana has been threatened this year by rampant fires in S.E. Montana. Believe it or not, this is quite the fun event with lots of live music, beer drinkin’ and hangin’ with folks eager to consume some Rocky Mountain Oysters.
Not quite in the shower of the Death Star….
Andre references Digby. In defending the current liberal position, Digby makes several ridiculous claims about the nature of information regarding Iraq and the true nature of war itself.
Digby says, regarding Iraq, that “Everything has been so packaged and marketed from the top that it’s very difficult to get a sense of what it’s like over there.” In a comment, Wes echoes this view, asserting that the administration “sent out” Democrats Michael O’Hanlon and Ken Pollack to write their op-ed as a “favor” to the administration.
I’m astonished that anyone could believe that information on this war is somehow limited. There has never been a war in human history with more media crawling around the battlefield, nor one where the communication of unpleasant facts was more immediate and widespread. If a reporter from the BBC or Reuters offers up a juicy nugget embarrassing the US, within an hour it can be discussed by hundreds of millions of people in America, other coalition states, and every Islamic nation in the world. If this is information-stage-managing, the director should be fired.
Digby also offers this typically sanctimonious and misguided sentiment:
Thank God Joseph Heller and James Jones and Erich Maria Remarque and countless others aren’t trying to write their books today. They’d be burned as heretics by a bunch of nasty boys and girls who have fetishized “the troops” ….
Someone should really get Digby to read some books. Like Cobra II, Assassin’s Gate, or Fiasco, the most definitive, comtemporary, insider accounts of any war ever written. I know Digby has read none of these. It’s clear from her comments, and leftist bloggers are nortoriously poorly read.
But maybe she’s at least heard of these:
Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers
The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End
Willful Blindness: The Bush Administration and Iraq
Iraq - The Sore of the Planet: Things Corporate Media Won’t Tell You
Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq
But to Digby, WWI was a more open media climate. A stupider statement could hardly be concieved of.
Every generation or so, a man comes along who so revolutionizes his chosen profession that all of posterity is affected in that endeavor. Bill Walsh was such a man.
Nicknamed “the Genius,” Walsh forever revolutionized the way the game is played. His innovative offensive style led to the moniker “West Coast Offense,” a name that Walsh never liked. While the name is over-used in today’s football lingo, the style will always endure. He perfected the short dropback pass mixed in with precision routes, tough fullbacks and excellent running and blocking schemes. Many mistakenly believe that the name refers to a pure passing scheme, but Walsh was so much more intelligent than to be limited to a one dimensional offense. And who can argue with the results? Walsh’s scheme allowed a quarterback with average talent to lead the most prolific offense of the 1980’s. Walsh and Montana won three Super Bowls in the process and spawned a who’s-who of coaching talent. The list of his adherents is remarkable: Mike Shanahan, Mike Holmgren, George Siefert, Tony Dungy, Jon Gruden, Pete Carroll, Andy Reid, Brian Billick, Sam Wyche and Ray Rhodes all owe their careers to Bill Walsh. All who love football owe, in part, that love to the game Bill Walsh helped to create. He was 75.
This is what we are fighting, and why anything short of victory is not acceptable. It is a ruthless enemy without compassion or logic that thinks nothing of killing the innocent.
In short, these are bad people, and the faster they are sent into the afterlife the better.
Second Korean hostage found dead
They said the bullet-riddled body of the man was found at the side of the road in the village of Arizo Kalley, in Ghazni province.
The Taleban seized 23 Korean Christian aid workers, most of them women, on 19 July and shot dead their leader - a male pastor - last Wednesday.
As the son, grandson, and great-grandson of pastors, I always hate to see the persecution of those whose entire life was dedicated to sacrifice and self-less devotion and service to others.
A little excerpt from Revelation:
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
I have been writing for Watchblog.com for a couple of months or so and it has been an interesting place to post a well developed screed or two once in a while. I usually post the minimum of two posts/columns a month (I had three for July) and often am able to take a couple of my posts here and turn them into a column for publication there with a minimum of trouble. I do know that we have a variety of good conservative writers that both belong to this site and visit here on a regular basis. This is a good opportunity for those who wish to have an additional forum to share their views with a larger audience. They seem to have a fairly dedicated group of both visitors and writers.
From the Watchblog site:
WatchBlog is looking for a few more volunteer Republican / Conservative writers for this column. Requirements: good writing skills, spell checker, and a political blog of your own or, another web site where your experience as a political writer can be viewed. If you are interested in promoting political perspectives, philosophy, and news, your name could appear here. Click here to apply.
From the New York Times Opinion Page today:
VIEWED from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal. The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility. Yet now the administration’s critics, in part as a result, seem unaware of the significant changes taking place.
Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with.
According to Michael O’Hanlon and Kenneth M. Pollack of the Brookings Institution, the tactics that have been employed by General Petraeus along with the increased numbers of troops deployed during the “surge” are having a remarkable effect on the ground in Iraq. Of course, those who follow the reporting of Michael Yon and Michael Totten already had an idea of the progress that is occuring all over Iraq.
How much longer should American troops keep fighting and dying to build a new Iraq while Iraqi leaders fail to do their part? And how much longer can we wear down our forces in this mission? These haunting questions underscore the reality that the surge cannot go on forever. But there is enough good happening on the battlefields of Iraq today that Congress should plan on sustaining the effort at least into 2008.
Is congress so blinded by political aspirations and grandstanding that they will not be able to recognize these obvious signs of progress in Iraq. I think that this statement is just as true in Iraq as it is in the U.S.- “All politics are local”. By creating a positive political atmosphere at a grassroots level throughout the country, Petraeus will create momentum that will force the feckless Iraqi Central Government to shit or get off the pot. As witnessed during the celebration following Iraq’s victory over Saudi Arabia to claim the 2007 Asian Cup, regardless of religious affiliation this is a country full of national pride.
“This football team has given Iraqis happiness and everything which has been missing for them,” said Ayad Aziz Nader, a bare-chested Baghdadi sweating from the efforts of his celebrations.
“What governments could not do, they did. We want to show the world there is no Sunni, no Shia. They are political blocs; they are fighting among each other. Now you see Sunni, Shia, Kurd, Christian, Yazidi, everyone. We are like brothers watching the television together.”
Now is not the time to leave this country. Put aside the catastrophic management of the aftermath of the war for a moment. There is an opportunity here that has not been available since the end of “major combat operations”. This is a war we just might win.
Been nerding it up all weekend, and just got back from my dart tourneys (won both 301 and cricket, of course), so a little fun from the intertubes:
If you don’t know what is being parodied (and unless you are as much of a geek as me, you probably don’t):
Nerd off.
The Scene: What would bicycling be without doping? The two go together like a hand and a glove. And the doping of this years tour makes baseballs problems look like Barry Bonds in 1990.
First some German guy named Patrik Sinkewitz tested positive for testosterone. I thought testosterone was a good thing for males but what do I know). Then some Italian guy named Christian Moreni tested positive for the same thing (an Italian with testosterone; imagine that!). Then some Danish guy named Michael Rassmussen didn’t show up for a drug test (must have been worried about testosterone). He could have won but his own team sold him out. Then the favored racer, some Kazakh guy named Alexander Vinokourov (think Borat on drugs) tested postive for a banned blood transfusion (the transfusion was reportedly from a mountain goat; it makes him a better climber. . . rimshot).
The Call: Either take the testing out of the hands of the suspect French Doping Agency or just allow doping in the sport. Notice that none of those that was sent home were “some French guy.” Are we to believe that the French are squeaky clean? Hell they were knee-deep in the U.N. food for oil scandal but they don’t add a little red blood here and there? Sure thing. I think they are just pissed that they haven’t won their own tour for some time but that is just speculation.
The Result: Some Spanish guy named Alberto Contador won the dang race and football season can’t come fast enough.
Earlier, I wrote about a series of “diaries” in The New Republic from an anonymous soldier-writer. Wes informs us that TNR has now published an account by the man in which he identifies himself and stands by his claims.
The exchange in TNR is fascinating and illuminating, both as to the power of the media – both MSM and blogs – and the nature of the Iraq war debate in America. The New Republic is a very sensible, credible, intelligent journal of American opinion. It provides the disgracefully rare view of the hawkish Left, and it does so with good humor and journalistic honesty.
I hate to be snarky again (okay, it doesn’t really bother me at all), but it tells us something about almost all of the angry-Left blogs that they loathe TNR, even though they both represent Democratic Party viewpoints. Kos, C&L, Atrios, FireDogLake, HuffPost, Tbogg, and on and on are the reincarnation of the Christian Coalition of the 1990’s, or even the Moral Majority of the 1980’s. They are a collection of self-righteous, poorly-read, insolent, and isolated fanatics who just know that they are right on everything and, despite their official pronouncements to the contrary, they truly hate those who have a different viewpoint — even (or perhaps especially) if those others are from their own political party.
Since 2003, SHLD is up 808%. S&P 500 is up 56%. WMT is down 18%. TGT is up 86 %. JCP, the other turnaround, is up 298%. But SHLD shares have fallen about 27 percent in the past quarter as the company preannounced a bad quarter and has been caught in the ”hedge funds are bad” philosophy that has permeated the street as taxation issues and bad subprime bets come to the surface. As Cramer himself said the other day on TheStreet.com TV, sell the stock. Get out of it today….if you can’t take the heat. But he is not selling, and neither am I.
I for one never expected a great “Retail Renaissance” at Sears Holdings, with both Sears and Kmart being able to grow back into prominence as they were in the early to mid 1900’s. To think that would be a fool’s game. What has happened is about what I expected with the two companies. With Kmart, Lampert took a bankrupt company that was bleeding money and turned it into a cash creator. With Sears, Lampert has been trimming back the fat of 100 years of business in the attempt to make the company a cash creator as well. When Sears sold it’s credit card operations in 2003, many thought that would be the death knell for Sears as more than 2/3 of it’s profits came from owning it’s own card. However, by owning it’s credit porfolio it was subjected to much greater risk and as the sales continued to slide the cost to pay the interest to Sears bondholders became too great. After “merging” Kmart and Sears, Lampert has been able to leverage some costs and Sears has become viable on it’s own by just selling goods and services.
So, now under the Sears Holdings banner, Lampert has two companies that are creating cash. But he has done nothing else that was expected of him when he “merged” the two companies…selling of real estate or closing huge numbers of stores. There have been no purchases of other businesses with the cash being created by the retailers. He has shunned the business press and analysts by not providing monthly sales updates and only speaks to them at the annual meeting. So it seems as if the only way to value the stock is through retail sales with an added bump for the Eddie Lampert premium given to him as a result of his 20 plus years of investing performance. So as sales continue on their downward trend and no Lampert magic has occured yet, you get the latest performance. Interestingly enough, the shares have not been trading at a much greater rate than their normal volume (no fire sale if you will) and Lampert had about 1.5 billion dollars with which the board authorized him to buyback stock. He is getting that stock on sale right now. In fact, there has been a bluelight special on SHLD stock for about 2 months.
Take a step back and look at the stock of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett’s company. Some have speculated, including your’s truly, that Lampert would like to create his own version of that company. In 1965, Berkshire started trading at around 14 dollars a share. On July 27, 1977 it was trading at 100 dollars a share. 30 years later on July 27, 2007 the stock traded at 110,000 dollars a share. Sometimes it pays to be patient.
E the Wise and I joined a couple others for a fishing/camping trip to the Routt National Forest located in the northeastern part of Colorado.
We set up camp near the Yampa River, “one of the West’s last wild rivers.”
The river fishing was limited by our need to battle the near-constant rain. We’d spend time between the rain showers scooping out standing water from our campsite, trying to dry essential food and fire-starting items, and locating and chopping firewood in advance of the next storm. All told, it was a good time, though, and a wonderful view of the majestic Colorado scenery.
I’m glad that in my absence, Andre’s dog recovered, pgwarner and Wes hit it off, Alberto Gonzales continued to say stupid things and Andre continued to notice (though the White House, apparently, did not). E makes a good point that because of the ridiculousness of current politics, it makes even more sense for Fred Thompson to delay his entry.
While it’s true that my predicted GOP nominee John McCain is struggling through the political death rattle, my long-standing prediction that Hillary Clinton will be the 44th President of the United States (first made in 2003) seems only to have further solidified while I was away.
And as always, Steve the Guru continues to regale us with merriment from music and film, which is good to see from our friend, because after all, the arts can be a soothing elixir for life’s travails, especially when one’s hot stock picks are sinking as if in quicksand.
Just got off the phone with an ex-girlfriend from high school who is back in our hometown for her reunion. She had heard I was going to be home for the weekend and was very disappointed to find that I could not make it. Anyway, we had a great talk and reminisced about our lives in the 80’s. Made me think of this song, which seemed to have a very poignant message back in the day.
Our friend Mo K provides a link to the site ‘I’m with Fred.’ The site is just some musings of Fred or some staffer, but is there any doubt that this guy really knows how to work the media and blogs to gain the greatest possible exposure without having to engage in the crap that current candidates have to? I mean, a YouTube debate? Are you kidding me? It’s pure genius to not partake in such bullshit.
BTW, you heard the term “Fred Head” here first.
Fred appears at a concert with Lee Greenwood, Charlie Daniels, and Sean Hannity to benefit the children of fallen soldiers.
If a large chunk of ice falls from the sky two words that would not come to my mind are “global warming.” But of course, every meteorlogical phenomenon is attributed to global warming.
David Travis, a professor of geography and geology and an associate dean at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, has studied the phenomenon of large chunks of ice falling from a clear sky. He said it’s possible the ice could have been a megacryometeor — “similar to a hailstone, but without the thunderstorm” . . .
. . .Travis’ research team speculates the phenomenon could be linked with global warming, suggesting that climate change might make the tropopause portion of the atmosphere colder, moister and more turbulent.
Is it me or does the irony of the sky falling give an appropriate image of the global warming hysteria?
Been listening to the newest Muse Album this year. Can’t get enough of it in fact. Enjoy this tongue in cheek tribute to spaghetti westerns/science fiction/karate movies. Not a headbanging song, but good none the less.
Of course this is ridiculous. Two and a half hours playing this game and some 50 of the 150 other passengers missed their connecting flights. It appears that these particular Arab princesses were too ‘poor’ to use a private jet and too strict to follow the old adage ‘when in Rome…’. And it would appear that the pilot was too timid to simply proclaim “sit down and shut up, or I’ll have you removed from the plane and arrested”.
The dispute - in which the three princesses from the ultra-conservative Qatar royal family demanded segregated seating - left the London-bound plane delayed on a baking Italian runway for nearly three hours.
Furious passengers whistled and clapped as the row intensified before the captain eventually ordered the women to be escorted off the plane.
There is nothing I could say that could possibly do justice to this little note from the Savior Fred to Slick Willie. Still, it’s funny on SO many levels.
I know it won’t hurt his not-yet-declared campaign in any way, and rightfully so, but it reminds me why I love the internets.
Reason number 1225 why McCain will never be the GOP nominee.
Bob Dole says his preferred presidential candidate, Arizona Senator John McCain, is fading and that his support is likely to be “picked up” by Fred Thompson, who is expected to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination in September.
“My heart has always been with my good friend John McCain,” said Dole, former Senate majority leader and Republican presidential nominee. “But it’s just not happening, the buzz is gone.”
Tee hee. I hate to say I told you so, but…
Scribe?
“Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie”
It’s Nerd Pride Weekend in San Diego edition.
One of the best weekends in San Diego is when my fellow nerds come from around the globe to attend what is, by far, the biggest comic book convention in the world… Comic-Con!
At the time of this meeting Grant was already a ‘rising star’ in an Union army that had been disappointed with a host of hesitant, incompetent and reluctant generals.
Grant and Lincoln meet for the first time
Near the door of the Blue Room the advance of the column of callers was suddenly checked. The President, after cordially wringing the hand of one visitor, detained him in conversation. He was a short, scrubby officer, stooped and sunburned, with rought, ligh-brown whiskers, and he appeared scarcely worthy of signal attention. There was something seedy about him; the look of a man who is out of a job, and takes too much drink. The stars on his shoulder straps were tarnished. But a buzz ran through the Blue Room. Everyone began to stare at the man who stood awkwardly looking up at the President, while arriving guests jostled in confusion outside the doorway. General Grant and Mr. Lincoln were meeting for the first time.
Seward hurried to the rescue. He presented the general to Mrs. Lincoln, and led him through a lane of eager faces into the crowded East Room. Grant’s entrance turned the polite assemblage into a mob. Wild cheers shook the crystal chandeliers, as ladies and gentlemen rushed on him from all sides. Laces were torn, and criolines mashed. Fearful of injury or maddened by excitement, people scrambled on chairs and tables. At last, General Grant was forced to mount a crimson sofa. He stood there bashfully shaking the thrusting hands that wanted to touch success and glory - Donelson, Vicksburg, Chattanooga - personified in a slovenly little soldier, with a blushing, scared face.The Union had had some queer heroes, but none as unlikely as the one on whom, after three years of war, its ardent hopes were fixed…
…On the day after Grant’s arrival, he was formally presented with the commission of lietenant-general. The grade had been revived by recent act of Congress, with the tacit understanding that it would be bestowed on Grant. It was high military honor from a republic which had been chary of permitting its heroes to place a third star on their shoulder straps.
The President and the gentlemen of the Cabinet assembled, and, in reply to Mr. Lincoln’s short speech, Grant painfully stammered out a few lines he had penciled on a half sheet of note paper. In his embarrassment, he seemed scarcely able to read his own writing; but the composition, with its reference to his heavy responsibilities, the noble armies of the Union and the favor of Providence, was entirely original with himself.
- Revielle in Washington 1860-1865 by Margaret Leech
Just saying… Solutions? From either party?
This actually makes me a little sad.
Publisher American Media Inc. said on Tuesday it will stop printing the Weekly World News, which for 28 years gleefully chronicled the exploits of alien babies, animal-human hybrids and dead celebrities.
The company said in a brief statement it would end the print version of the tabloid newspaper next month but would maintain the online version (www.weeklyworldnews.com).
“Due to the challenges in the retail and wholesale magazine marketplace that have impacted the newsstand, American Media, Inc. today announced it will close the print version of the Weekly World News, effective with the August 27 issue. Weekly World News was AMI’s smallest weekly publication,” the company said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters.
I used to love reading it (when I was a teenager), but haven’t picked up a copy in years. I guess that makes me part of the problem. 
First, the puppy is once again okay, and back to chasing cats in the backyard (though I will admit this up-down-up-down-up thing is driving me nearly insane).
And second, I got a great present:
Documents indicate eight congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration’s terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004, contradicting sworn Senate testimony this week by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
The documents underscore questions about Gonzales’ credibility as senators consider whether a perjury investigation should be opened into conflicting accounts about the program and a dramatic March 2004 confrontation leading up to its potentially illegal reauthorization.
A Gonzales spokesman maintained Wednesday that the attorney general stands by his testimony.
Of course I am not expecting too much, because we have learned from the modern conservatives that perjury in defense of liberty is not a vice.
Update: It would seem that “Hindrocket” over at power line was not very impressed by my present. Please note that I didn’t use the Wingnutosphere adaption of his nickname to describe him, delicate sensibilities, and all that. I’ll leave that to, you guessed it… Sadly, No!
For your listening pleasure tonight, an artist that has received little recognition in the U.S., although he does have quite a following here in Colorado. This is a web-vid mashup of the movie “After the Sunset” mixed with William Topley’s “Hurricane Room”.
Democrats go soft on crimes against humanity.
The more I watch and listen to Obama, the more I am convinced he’s a ‘lightweight’ and much less intelligent than Hillary. She’s devious, power hungry, ruthless and vicious (and socialist) but she’s far far from stupid. You listen to either Sen. Edwards or Sen. Obama and the fluff and empty rhetoric becomes annoying very quickly. I watched bits and pieces of a rebroadcast of the YouTube debates (are we picking presidential candidates like American Idol now?) and Obama to me was obviously promising the moon and the stars to anyone and everyone without coming across like he has much understanding of what he was talking about. Kind of disturbing after a while.
Mr. Obama is engaging in sophistry. By his logic, if America lacks the capacity to intervene everywhere there is ethnic killing, it has no obligation to intervene anywhere–and perhaps an obligation to intervene nowhere. His reasoning elevates consistency into the cardinal virtue, making the perfect the enemy of the good.
Further, he elides the distinction between an act of omission (refraining from intervention in Congo and Darfur) and an act of commission (withdrawing from Iraq). The implication is that although the U.S. has had a military presence in Iraq since 1991, the fate of Iraqis is not America’s problem.
The Scribe and I will be somewhere on a Colorado stream bringing in rainbows. We will return Saturday.
Until then, I thought you might like to see another fishing tale. Word to Andre, don’t wade too deep!
Lindsay Lohan Busted Again for Cocaine, DUI
It sounds like our old pal Lindsay is desperately in need of both a driver and a pants pocket checker. Any volunteers?
Britney, Paris, and Lindsay; what a trio of trainwrecks.
Padilla said the 21-year-old Lohan was unable to walk a straight line, touch her nose or follow a small light with her eyes. Officers also detected the smell of alcohol, Padilla said.
The movie star was booked for investigation of driving under the influence and driving on a suspended license, both misdemeanors, and possession of cocaine and transport of a narcotic, both felonies, authorities said.
During a pre-booking search, police found cocaine in one of Lohan’s pants pockets, Talbot said.
Schumer vs. Gonzales, a first round KO. This guy still has a job, why?
Also, a little Daily Show via C&L, since they are now anathema to our site. Cheney almost starts WWIII. Once again Stewart made soda come out of my nose (at work…. sigh). Fair Warning: Not for the faint of heart.
Other than that, puppy is a little more sick than usual, so I might have light posting/commenting, unless she improves as she has the last two times.
Update: After what I just got to clean up, I think this might be the real thing.
So my humble tribute to the two most important things in my life that I (probably) lost this year.
I really hope I don’t have to follow through tomorrow. Happy freaking birthday.
You’ve just got to love the creatures that seem to spawn in the vicinity of San Francisco. This story is not nearly as ‘interesting’ as one might think/hope but is actually downright disturbing on several levels. Take a peek at your own risk but always remember that really “war is indecent’.
So much for the policy of not upsetting or inciting the fundamentalist Islamic folks both here and abroad. The cultural and religious insensivity displayed here will be enough to keep me tossing and turning for a couple of nights at least.
Breasts, Not Bombs!
Do these people really have nothing better to do?
hat tip to LFG for story.
Professor fired after 9-11-Nazi comparison
Good riddance, and this falls within the confines of ‘better really, really late than never’. He was an embarrassment to begin with and the endless handwringing, ducking and dodging by the University of Colorado and the CU regents has been excruciating but they finally did the right thing. This charlatan and publicity whore should have been taken out behind the woodshed for a good thrashing years ago, but instead he has been gorging himself at the public/government trough while simultaneously calling for its destruction. While some will undoubtedly continue comparing Churchill to Galileo and Spartacus the rest of us will be comforted knowing that this pretend Indian, lying, plagiarizing, seditious fraud and phony will no longer be attempting to indoctrinate the youth of this nation at the taxpayers expense.
“Good riddance! The snail’s pace of this process to rid our flagship university of Ward Churchill has made C.U. the laughing stock of higher education. Hopefully future Churchills will be removed without delay.” - Colorado State Senator Dave Schultheis
“I am encouraged that the adults are finally in charge at C.U.. With Hank Brown’s leadership, and today’s vote by the regents, taxpayers should be confident that the system that first hired Ward Churchill and gave him the chairmanship of a department has been brought back down to the world of reality.” - Colorado State Senator Ted Harvey
Well said gentlemen.
DFV gave a good account of the happenings at C & L yesterday. What was seemingly an innocuous follow-up to them using our post turned into their site monitor selling out to avoid letting any reasonable conservative point of view reach their precious threads. To catch you up, I wanted to let the sitemonitor know what I thought of his lies. Always the diplomat, I posted this comment:
The worst thing I said was “recycled names, recycled hatred, recycled ideas”
I encourage you (the sitemonitor) to prove me wrong with the original text of comment #91 you sent to John and the site team but of course, you yourself are lying so you won’t. Ironic that this is taking place on ‘crooks and liars’, don’t you think? As I said on #98, the liberal co-blogger on our site loves this site. I had no intention of stirring a hornets nest by engaging in silly name calling. Rather, I was drawing attention to the more pertinent subjects on our site. Fred Thompson’s wife hardly qualifies.
I also encourage you to do just what you said you would do. Take the original link of Thompson’s wife off this post.
I am quite certain if you are honest with yourself you will know that what you did was wrong and then you lied to cover it up.
This morning the comment was deleted and replaced with this:
C&L is a personal site. It is not the Government. It is not public institution or a media organization. It is not a neutral site. It is intended to express and disseminate the authors’ point of view. It reserves the right to limit comments to those that, in its view, comport with its stated comment policy. Comments that do not comply are subject to deletion.
Included was a link to their terms of use. One of those terms is this:
Comments that are abusive, offensive, contain profane or racist material or violate the terms of service for this blog’s host provider will be removed and the author(s) banned from future comments. It is far easier for us to ban an offending commenter than to get reinstated by the software censors.
But of course they have no intention of banning the slime-infested commenters that use abusive, offensive, profane or racist material just as long as they walk the company line.
I have no problem with a site that monitors its comments consistently or gives reasoned, truthful replies as to why it deleted certain comments. Hell, I don’t even care if liberal sites delete all conservative posts if they are honest about it. I just expected a little latitude since they saw fit to use our Jeri Kehn post. In the end, the whole silly debacle only eroded what shred of credibility their site has. But since they are not ”the Government” and “not a public institution or a media organization” they are apparently exempt from telling the truth. Convenient.
In 2006, Democratic candidates ran explicitly on earmark reform. I said at the time that Republicans were indeed corrupt on the funding issue, but I blanched when Andre seemed to beleive that Democrats would honestly reform the system.
Now Robert Novak writes that the jig is up.
Nebraska Democratic Senator Ben Nelson was pushing a $7.5 million project that would directly benefit his son, Patrick Nelson. Tom Coburn (R, OK), the most heroic earmark reformer in Congress, and, yes, a hated enemy of those insisting that such reform was necessary just 8 months ago, was pushing a reform to ban senators from passing earmarks to benefit their own family. Reid would have none of it:
But Reid is also working behind the scenes with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to undermine earmark transparency and prevent open debate on spending proposals such as Nelson’s….
Reid is plotting to strip anti-earmark transparency from the final version of ethics legislation passed by the Senate and House, with tacit support from Republican senators and the GOP leadership.
None of this shocks me, though I oppose it vigorously. But it probably stuns Andre, who believes that Democrats are immune from graft, Republicans monopolize all badness, and if we can just elect enough Harry Reid’s truth and justice will light our way.
If you have any common sense, have them cancel your side’s YouTube fiasco.
I actually thought Biden won.
Pic shamelessly stolen from the previously trashed Wonkette, who HATES the Jews, and, apparently, the Irish.
We are familiar with the article in The Nation, accusing the American ground troops of committing widespread war crimes and outright murder. This was in their July 30 issue.
Less frequently talked about is the New Republic’s article of a week prior, which detailed other war crimes. [UPDATE: PGWarner first mentioned this in a comment earlier] Unlike The Nation, TNR used a single, anonymous, pseudonymous source. He called himself (or TNR called him) “Scott Thomas.” But in the Weekly Standard (one of those neocon rags I read) Bill Kristol (according to Crooks and Liars, Bill the Bloody who is Hitler, a murderous war criminal, and desrving of the Dachau crematorium) has some troubling news.
My colleague Michael Goldfarb raised questions about this account in a July 18 post on THE WEEKLY STANDARD website, asking for assistance from soldiers and veterans in assessing the truth of the stories told by “Scott Thomas.” Within a day, dozens of active duty soldiers and veterans had come forward to point out errors, implausibility, and indeed the well-nigh-impossibility (in the case of the Bradley) of what was claimed. The editors of the New Republic provided to Goldfarb a couple of allegedly corroborating details–for example, the name of the Forward Operating Base, FOB Falcon, where the taunting of the badly disfigured female IED victim was said to have taken place. Soldiers who served at the base have come forward to say no such woman has been seen there. As we go to press on July 20, the New Republic has said they are investigating their own story, and the mainstream media seem to be hoping against hope that they won’t have to cover yet another embarrassing episode of journalistic malpractice.
Now many at Crooks and Liars and elsewhere will immediately dismiss this article because the writer’s name - Goldfarb- sounds so, um, neoconservative; but for others, it’s an important read.
Your precious site is exposed as a fraudulent, lying outfit that seeks to be the reincarnation of Joseph Geobbels’ Ministry of Information. But you’re lucky. You have an opportunity to say how repugnant you think these leftist clowns are, and how sorry you are that you implied that liberals must be just kidding when they trash Jews, and how wise and brilliant I am, and… well, I’ll stop there.
BTW, feel free to go after my sites, but only my sites. I don’t read RedState or LGF or FreeRepublic, although I would bet you cash that you can’t find similar stuff on there. I read NRO, Opinion Journal, Foreign Affairs, Policy Review, the Weekly Standard, and The National Interest.
Knock yourself out.
I have no independent confirmation, but I’d always just assumed that the title for the website Crooks and Liars was meant to describe their enemies in life — Republicans. I never would have guessed that it was a description of their posting philosophy.
But just today, Conclub’s own E the Wise posted a harmless comment on the C&L site. Because it didn’t toe the hateful, fanatical, left-wing party line, they deleted it. So Eric went back to the site, and politely inquired why he had been deleted.
Here, decide for yourself. In his initial post, the site moderator responds in the smugest, most patronizing way:
YAWN! [Deleted. I’m sure on second thought, you see how rude it is to come to badmouth the host of a link that gave you a couple extra page views, in their own house. Classy.]
Since the trophy wife link was taken from my site, [Edited] some of the more serious material on the site.
[Thanks for sharing. I’ll let the authors here know you object to being linked…maybe we can get this link killed for you, even though paradoxically, you leave a link with your name and this post-Sitemonitor]…
Then, when Eric questioned this, the site monitor FLAT-OUT LIED.
ERIC:
A) I didn’t badmouth the host, I stated that the issue was really a non-issue and the phrases thrown around for Kristol are recycled and hateful.
B) I didn’t object to the link just as you don’t object when you are linked by various other sources. I’m not sure where you got that.
C) I can understand that opposing views might send you into a frenzy but I am really quite harmless and since my co-blogger loves you so, it would be much appeciated if you reinstated the very bland contents of comment #91. I didn’t curse, I didn’t name call, and I didn’t spam.
SITEMONITOR:
[You called posters on this site names. Several times. I sent the text of your comment to John and the site team so we all know what you said, before it was edited. I left as much of your post up that wasn’t a slam on the posters here.
Consult the commenting policy. I think, if you will be honest with yourself, you’ll understand why your comment was redacted. It’s pretty cut and dried, really. Thanks for the feedback-Sitemonitor]
So what exactly did E say that was so arrogantly deleted? What did he say that the site monitor said “called posters on this site names. Several times”? Here’s his post:
“YAWN. Kristol is “smarmy” and conservative are “mean.” These are the same names that you guys have been using for several years now. Its all recycled. Recycled cliches, recycled hatred, recycled ideas.
Since the trophy wife link came from my site, I think it would be best to look at some of the more serious material on the site.
But just know that it requires an answer more serious than the moniker ‘faux news’ to the problems posed by the war on terror.”
So you can all see that the site hates dissent and is willing to openly LIE to enforce their orthodoxy.
Not to go quietly into the night, Eric called their bluff:
The worst thing I said was “recycled names, recycled hatred, recycled ideas”
I encourage you (the sitemonitor) to prove me wrong with the original text of comment #91 you sent to John and the site team but of course, you yourself are lying so you won’t. Ironic that this is taking place on ‘crooks and liars’, don’t you think? As I said on #98, the liberal co-blogger on our site loves this site. I had no intention of stirring a hornets nest by engaging in silly name calling. Rather, I was drawing attention to the more pertinent subjects on our site. Fred Thompson’s wife hardly qualifies.
I also encourage you to do just what you said you would do. Take the original link of Thompson’s wife off this post.
I am quite certain if you are honest with yourself you will know that what you did was wrong and then you lied to cover it up.
This is one of Andre the Defiant’s favorite websites. He loves their hatred, their lying, and their fanaticism (they routinely call for the President’s impeachment, to cite one of thousands of examples).
If he had a shred of integrity, he would have gone to their site earlier and called his heroes on their lies. He might even be embarrassed that the gods he worships turn out to be low-grade snake oil salesmen.
But apparently he has no integrity and is impervious to shame.
UPDATE: As if on cue, the lying, far-left, extremist website Crooks and Liars has provided some new examples of the Left’s hatred of Jews. This is just on ONE thread in just THE LAST DAY!
“Kristol is an international Hitler….”
I hate to say it, but Dachau would be too good for him and his ilk..Include the Kagans.
That would be Dachau, the Nazi extermination camp that murdered Jews, and the Kagans are Robert Kagan and Fred Kagan, two more Jewish Republicans who apparently don’t know that the party of Crooks and Liars, and their Dachau romanticists, are “the party that, you know, they are a part of.”
Astounding in its smugness and wrong-headedness, are Andre’s first two comments to Eric’s post regarding liberal anti-Semitism.
Yeah, because we are the party that, you know, they are a part of.
WTF?!
So no Jews are Republicans? So no leftists are anti-Semitic? Tell that to Bill Kristol, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, Elliot Abrahms, and Richard Perle. They are the Five-Headed Hydra the left trashed for so long, often in despicable and thinly-coded tones. All are Republicans, all are Jewish, and all are the victims of liberal anti-Semitism.
Or tell it to Harriet Harman or Lanny Davis, both committed liberals who were subjected to the sewage of the leftist blogosphere. The ADL had a conference on liberal anti-Semitism, Front Page Mag held a symposium on it, and blogger Paul Bogdanor has a whole library of the smut.
Melanie Phillips details the BBC’s anti-Semitism, and Markos himself helps out the argument by hosting the screed entitled “Imagine a World Without Israel.”
OOPS! That’s just from some “diarist,” so apparently he gets invited to post on the top leftist blog, get tens of thousands of readers, but it doesn’t “count” against Kos. My bad.
UPDATE: As if on cue, the lying, far-left, extremist website Crooks and Liars has provided some new examples of the Left’s hatred of Jews. This is just on ONE thread in just THE LAST DAY!
“Kristol is an international Hitler….”
I hate to say it, but Dachau would be too good for him and his ilk..Include the Kagans.
That would be Dachau, the Nazi extermination camp that murdered Jews, and the Kagans are Robert Kagan and Fred Kagan, two more Jewish Republicans who apparently don’t know that the party of Crooks and Liars, and their Dachau romanticists, are “the party that, you know, they are a part of.”
Remember that nice hit piece from Nation that Andre linked and commented on showing how bad and evil our military is? Well at least when Andre was discussing how bad they were, he blamed military leadership. But Kos and Co. have no such restraint. To them, the military breeds serial killers and mass murderers! (h/t LGF)
Of course, everyone is appropriately appalled and make all claims of disgust and finger-wagging. Research shows, however, that such unacceptable behavior happens more often than the United States military wants you to know.
When it comes to training killing machines, the military really does create “an Army of one.”
Apparently this post was killed within hours of its creation to hide it but someone at LGF saved the HTML. So much for standing behind what you think.
Our own Scribe commented on Andre’s original post and said this in conclusion:
Lastly, you and John Murtha show your sliminess by hiding behind the sham that you aren’t criticizing the troops, just the commanders. Read the hit piece from the Nation. It accuses the troops of widespread, uncontrolled, and remorseless war crimes. If that’s true, then the soldiers are murderers and should be hanged. Or are you suddenly swayed by the Nazi defense? Shit, you’d have let Goering off at Nuremberg. But then again, probably not, because you give away your true feelings with the sarcastic description “benevolent US soldiers.” You think our boys are monsters, you just don’t have the nuts to say so.
Kos had the nuts for about two hours, and then lost their nerve. But it was a prophetic comment nontheless.
In a stunning rocket, Rudy Jew-liani basically admitted that he doesn’t know anything at all about foreign policy — or maybe that he knows too much. In an interview with the Jew York Times, Rudy inavertendly revealed that the US has been fighting an entire extra war these last few years that only he knows about.
Gee, isn’t it clever how they veil their anti-semitism?
You have got to be kidding me.
Why Bush Will Be A Winner
By William Kristol
I suppose I’ll merely expose myself to harmless ridicule if I make the following assertion: George W. Bush’s presidency will probably be a successful one.
Let’s step back from the unnecessary mistakes and the self-inflicted wounds that have characterized the Bush administration. Let’s look at the broad forest rather than the often unlovely trees. What do we see? First, no second terrorist attack on U.S. soil — not something we could have taken for granted. Second, a strong economy — also something that wasn’t inevitable.
And third, and most important, a war in Iraq that has been very difficult, but where — despite some confusion engendered by an almost meaningless “benchmark” report last week — we now seem to be on course to a successful outcome.
I once respected this guy?
What the hell is he smoking, and please give me some. I hope that’s harmless enough.
Dedicated to rehashing the big sports story of the weekend
The Scene: With his nemesis Tiger Woods well back, Sergio Garcia could at least take a deep breath. Entering the final round of the Open Championship at -9, He had a 3-stroke lead over lightly regarded Steve Stricker, and though a formidable group hovered at -3, they were a distant six strokes behind.
When Sergio Garcia first arrived on the golfing scene, he was known for his irrepressible smile and exuberant spirit. Then, he quickly came to be known as one of the best ball strikers on tour. Then, the descriptions of him started to include the moniker “Best Player Never to Have Won a Major.” And after failing in some head-to-head matchups with Tiger, including in last years’s Open at Hoylake, he was beginning to be called a choker. All before the age of 26.
But this week, Carnoustie seemed to be different for Sergio, even magical. His chips around the green were spectacular, his putting confident. One of Europe’s most beloved young golfers seemed poised to win Europe’s most coveted championship. On Saturday night, Garcia seemed confident. But as a chill wind began to blow in from the North Sea, men couldn’t help but recall the last time the Open was played here in this tiny Scottish town just across the bay from St. Andrews. Then too, a man had been playing brilliantly and seemed a sure bet to win. But only in hushed voices would they invoke the name of Jean Van De Velde.
The Call: After a birdie on 3, Garcia had widened his lead to 4 strokes. It was the best position he would be in the rest of the day. Garcia bogeyed 5, then 7 and 8. The crowd was beginning to murmur. Meanwhile, two groups ahead of Garcia, a quiet 35 year old Irishman was quietly developing a beautiful finishing round. Padraig Harrington was already at 3 under for the day as he made the turn, and when he rolled in his birdie putt on no. 11, Sergio’s formidable lead was gone.
Harrington entered the tee box on 18 with a 1-stroke lead. The engraver of the Claret Jug had stenciled in his name, and was ready to carve. But Carnoustie had one more surprise up her sleeve.
The Result: Barry Burn cuts across the 18th fairway at just about driving distance off the tee. Then, she cunningly snakes back round again in the second shot lay up area. Harrington managed to drown his ball on both shots. He held on for double bogey, allowing Garcia a chance to win. But when Garcia missed his putt on 18, sending the tournament to a four-hole playoff, Harrington outplayed him by a stroke. At last, the engraver could begin. Padraig Harrington became the first Irishman to capture the Claret Jug since 1947.
This is certainly one of those ‘must read’ articles and provides some insights into the one who would be president.
Rodham was deeply influenced by a 1966 article titled “Change or Containment” that appeared in Motive, a magazine for college-age Methodists. Authored by the Marxist/Maoist theoretician Carl Oglesby, who was a leader of the radical Students for a Democratic Society, this piece defended Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro, and Maoist tactics of violence. Its thesis was that “certain cultural settings” (most notably American capitalism) were inherently inequitable and oppressive, and thus caused people to feel “pain and rage” that sometimes erupted into violence — like that of “the rioters in Watts or Harlem” — which was “reactive and provoked” rather than evil or malicious. Hillary later said that the Motive article had played a key role in her metamorphosis from Goldwater Republican in 1964 to leftist Democrat in 1968. During her years as First Lady of the United States, Mrs. Clinton would tell a Newsweek reporter that she still treasured the Oglesby piece…
… When McCarthy later dropped out of the Democratic primary, Hillary threw her support behind the Party’s eventual nominee, Hubert Humphrey. From that point forward, wrote Barbara Olson in her 1999 book Hell to Pay, “Republicans were the enemy and the enemy was allied with evil — the evils of war, racism, sexism, and poverty.”
 | thompaine on “Science Studies” … |
 | Drowning Creek on “Science Studies” … |
